Deal of the week: 1TB for $80 and 2TB for $180

Okay, so hard drives really do get a lot of play in these posts. But with drive makers making denser and cheaper platters all the time, what are we to do? Take Seagate's Barracuda LPs, for instance: Newegg is now selling them at a discount, offering the 1TB model for a paltry $79.99 with free shipping.

(For reference, the lowest price on our search engine is $88.45, and the Western Digital alternative will set you back five bucks more.)

For those with fatter wallets, Newegg also selling the 2TB Barracuda LP for a cool $179.99 shipped—this time a whole $20 less than what our price search engine digs up, not to mention $30 cheaper than the 2TB WD Caviar Green.

The 'cuda LPs have 5,900-RPM spindle speeds, 32MB caches, and high-density 500GB platters. When Seagate first told us about them, it claimed higher performance and lower noise levels than WD's Caviar Greens. We're currently putting that claim to the test ourselves. In any case, these drives will work best as auxiliary mass-storage solutions. Those seeking a fast system drive will probably want something that runs at a full 7,200 RPM.